Rail bond and electric rail connector



Dec. 8, 1942. E. A. EVERETT: v 2,304,079.

RAIL BOND AND ELECTRIC RA-IL CONNECTOR Filed May 23, 1958- INVENTOR.

BYW f Mm Patented Dec. 8, 1942 CONNECTOR Edward A. Everett, New York, N. Y.; Gustave A. Nelson and William R. Loughridge, executors of said Edward A. Everett, deceased, assignor to Matthew H. Loughridge, Bogota, N. J.; William R. Lockridge, administrator of the estate of Matthew H. Loughridge, deceased Application May 23, 1938, Serial No. 209,625

1 Claim.

This invention relates to rail bonds and electric rail connectors and has for an object to provide a terminal for attachment to a bottomed hole in the rail by expanding the terminal in the rail hole; another object of the invention is to provide a terminal for a bottomed rail hole that is expanded by stages; and another object of the invention is to provide a reliable connection between the conductor and the terminal.

Other objects of the invention will be more particularly understood from the following specification and the accompanying drawing, in which:

Fig, 1 is a sectional view of my invention for attaching a conductor to the rail;

Fig. 2 is a sectioned view of the plug in Fig. 1 before it is driven in place;

Fig. 3 is a top plan view, Fig. 2.

This invention relates to the same line of manufacture as shown in U. S. Patents 2,074,379, March 23, 1937, and 2,112,694, March 29, 1938, 2,180,350, Nov. 21, 1939; 2,182,798, Dec. 12, 1939, and 2,197,793, April 23, 1940.

The invention as shown includes novel methods of securing an attaching plug in a rail hole and a novel method of attaching a conductor to the plug or terminal.

In the drawing, I2 is the end of the rail forming the joint which is to be bonded as shown in Fig. l. The conductor I3 is used to maintain the track circuit around the joint between rail ends and is secured by a terminal having the plug I4 to the rail l2. The plug i4 is provided with a socket l6, secured at l9 to plug M by brazing or otherwise and the cable I3 is inserted in the socket l6, having a pre-formed head [8 and is held in place by crimping the socket at I! which operation develops the bell-mouth of the socket 16. This provides for a reliable connection between the terminal l4 and the cable IS without the application of heat.

The plug I4 is tightened in the rail hole by a two-stage or two diameter cylindrical drift pin 4| which is provided with a shoulder at 43 and with a smaller section 42 at the inner end. The nose of the plug is inserted in the rail hole in which it is a snug fit but may be applied without a driving force. The drift pin 4i enters the aperture in the plug from the outer end and is then driven home to the position indicated approximately by the dotted lines 44 and 45 after the plug is seated in the rail cavity. The shoulder 43 expands the plug M at 46 which corresponds with the entrance to the rail hole and the end of the pin 42 expands the nose of the 55 plug at 45 close to the bottom of the rail hole as indicated at 45a, with the result that the plug is tightly secured in the hole at the bottom and also at the entrance to the rail hole, the latter being substantially sealed by the expansion of the plug. In practice, the pin is made from steel such as drill rod and the plug may be made from soft steel or a copper alloy.

It should be noted that the rail hole is cylindrical, the plug has a cylindrical nose Where it enters the rail hole and a stem outside the rail hole. The drift pin is cylindrical in the large diameter, a shoulder is provided on this pin where the smaller section joins the larger section, making the pin in two stages, each of circular cross-section. The pin is driven into a central aperture or cavity in the plug, the small section of the pin engages the nose section of the plug that is enclosed by the wall of the rail hole; the large section of the pin engages substantially the portion of the plug that is outside the rail hole.

The small section of the pin is at the inner end and is driven forward by the large section which projects from the outer end of the plug, thus the driving force to expand the nose of the plug in the rail hole is transmitted through the heavier section of the pin.

The two stage pin has a shoulder drividing the stages at a definite point. The shoulder is beveled to join the shorter diameter. This bevel as shown has approximately the same angle as a 30 drill and is relatively short compared with the length of the pin. An outward push against this shoulder is limited to the relative expansion of the beveled portion of the pin which is negligible.

The cylindrical construction of the large section of the pin has a large surface in frictional engagement with the wall of the cavity in the stem of the plug. This frictional engagement acts at right angles to the axis of the pin and has no tendency to force the pin out of the cavity. When in place the plug substantially encloses the pin.

Drift pins have been used to expand plugs in rail holes which are driven into a cavity in the plug. These pins have a cylindrical stem and a tapered nose of considerable length narrowing towards the point of the pin. This-tapered portion may be approximately equal to the diameter of the pin. The absence of a prominence corresponding to a shoulder on this type of pin does not enable it to expand the plug in stages, and the relatively large expansion of the long tapered nose acts outwardly to loosen and force it out of the plug by temperature changes and by vibration.

The plug indicated in the various illustrations may be made from steel, from a copper alloy or from copper coated steel.

Having thus described my invention, I claim:

In combination, a rail with a bottomed hole therein, a plug fitting said hole with a snug fit and having a cavity of two portions each of 10 which are cylindrical, one being larger in di- EDWARD A. EVERETT. 

